Position in chronology
Ashurbanipal 201
Translation — scholar edition
RINAP 5(1') (No translation possible) (6') [...] ... [he (Teumman) s]ent insolent words to me. (7') [During the month Abu (V) — the month of the heliacal rising of the Bo]w Star — I made an appeal to the goddess [Išt]ar, the queen, the lady of ladies. [... (and)] I made an appeal to [h]er [divinity], while [my] t[ears] were flowing, [saying]: (9'b) [“O Divine Lady of the city Arbela! I, As]hurbanipal, the governor, the creation of [your] h[ands whom (the god) Aššur] — the [E]nlil of the gods, the father who had engende[red you — requires ... I have co]me (here) to revere [your] divinit[y ...] ...…
Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 5 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Why it matters
Ashurbanipal's tearful appeal to Ištar of Arbela — timed to the heliacal rising of the Bow Star in Abu — shows how Sargonid kings anchored military decisions in ritual calendars and divine patronage before marching against Elam.
Transliteration
[...] x [...] / [...] ḪI? x [...] / [...] ⸢KA? AM?⸣ [...] / [...] x ERIM x [...] / [...] x MA A ⸢SU⸣ x (x) / [...] x ⸢IK?⸣ x x [(x) iš?]-⸢pu?⸣-ra me-re-eḫ-tú / [ina ITI.NE ITI na-an-mur-ti] ⸢MUL⸣.PAN am-ḫur d⸢15⸣ šar-ra-tú be-let ⸢be-le-ti⸣ / [... DINGIR-us]-⸢sa⸣ ú-sap-pa-a il-li-ka ⸢di⸣-[ma-a-a] / [um-ma dbe-let URU.LÍMMU-DINGIR.KI a-na-ku maš]-šur-DÙ-A GÌR.⸢NÍTA⸣ bi-nu-ut ⸢ŠU⸣.[II-ki] / [...]…
Scholarly note
Royal inscription of Ashurbanipal or a late Sargonid successor, edited by Jamie Novotny & Joshua Jeffers (RINAP 5, 2018–). ORACC text Q007609.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P425322). source
Translation excerpted from Novotny, J. & Jeffers, J. 2018–. The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal (668–631 BC), Aššur-etel-ilāni (630–627 BC) and Sîn-šarra-iškun (626–612 BC), Kings of Assyria. RINAP 5. University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/rinap5/Q007609/.
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